


Dropping the Ball

by mrstater



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, and everyone is happy, no one is in exile, the twins aren't separated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 06:06:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9371420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrstater/pseuds/mrstater
Summary: Obi-Wan shows off his party tricks...but kids aren't the only ones who find them entertaining. [A Queen of Peace AU]





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bratanimus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bratanimus/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Queen of Peace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8486134) by [bratanimus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bratanimus/pseuds/bratanimus), [mrstater](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrstater/pseuds/mrstater). 



> If you've read Queen of Peace, you'll remember that in Chapter 12, before everything goes pear-shaped, Obi-Wan jokes about how he'll be a hit at the kids' birthday parties. (If you haven't read it, you totally should. ;) J/K, all you need to know is that Obi-Wan and Sabé are raising the twins and have a child of their own.) This fic is a little snippet from the Rebellion AU (which we will totally write) where (almost) everything goes to plan and he's definitely there for the birthday fun.

The laughter of small children rang in Obi-Wan's ears and rippled the Force, like stones skipped across a pond, concentric circles radiating across the tranquil surface in their wake. Their joyful peals transported him to his own boyhood in the Temple crèche--though of course there had been nothing so frivolous as the Masters levitating brightly colored balls to create star systems in orbit above the Younglings in a game of Keep Away.

Such an exercise was not _entirely_ valueless, he thought, thumb and forefinger tracing the line of his mustache down over his beard. Indeed, it could prove a creative tool for teaching locational cosmology...

A squeal drew his attention back outward, to the present scene in the open yard in front of the barracks, in which two-year-old-Luke's stubby fingers grazed the smooth underside of a green ball. Obi-Wan gave his own a slight wave as he withdrew his hand from his beard, bumping the rubber planet lightly against Luke’s forehead before bouncing upward with the rest of its system just beyond reach of the giggling boy’s outstretched hands.

"Oh dear," said Obi-Wan, "I'm afraid that’s gone quite over your head."  

That didn’t stop Luke from trying again to catch the elusive ball. Chuckling, Obi-Wan crossed his arms and leaned back against the edge of the refreshment table to watch. Luke wiggled his fingers at it;Leia, with nerf-tails bobbing, jumped--most ineffectually, scarcely getting her feet off the ground; while Ben toddled amongst his elder siblings and their playmates, babbling and laughing and clapping his hands as they did, though he seemed to have little understanding of why they were doing so.

Another day Obi-Wan could think about educational techniques. Today called for nothing if not a bit of frivolous entertainment, which he was only too willing to provide.

Dantooine had little to offer in the way of amusement for the dozen or so children who lived on the Rebel base. Yet so little was required to bring joy to their lives. Happiness was fleeting, Yoda had said, and not incorrectly. But joy--simple joy, in its purest form--was not light years away from the teachings of the Temple crèche. Yoda himself had always been possessed of a childlike quality that drew the Younglings to him, and not merely because he was of a size with them.

"Neat party trick," Antoc Merrick said, clapping Obi-Wan on the shoulder _en route_ to the refreshment table, "but wouldn't hoverballs would work just as well?"

" _Mmm_. Less fun for me, though."

It wasn't just the Rebels' children who needed a bit of entertainment--especially when Sabé was away on a mission. Not that Obi-Wan had time to be _bored_ , precisely, when he was on his own with all three kids in addition to his duties for the Rebellion. She was supposed to have been back by now…He dismissed the thought the instant it crossed his mind, for he felt no disturbance in the Force. There was no anxiety--only excitement to see his wife. Before breakfast, he'd burned a stick of incense in front of the goddess of safety for good measure.

"Less fun for us, too," said Sakhet, approaching with mischief in her four dark eyes and a tray of nerf nuggets and noodles fresh from the mess hall. When the Kupohan spy wasn't on assignment, she liked to cook, and she'd volunteered to provide the party food. Earlier, when Antoc started a betting pool about how long it would be before even Jedi concentration was broken by the antics of so many children amped up treats, Sakhet countered that parents were accustomed to multitasking amidst a sea of distractions. Her own son's pair of primary ears were visible over the heads of the younger children reaching for the floating balls.

A wail went up. The adults broke off chatting as heads turned to check whether the source was any of their kids.

"That would mine." Obi-Wan knew without looking, feeling through the Force that some of the bubbles of happiness had burst.

The other parents resumed their conversations as he pushed off the table to comfort Ben, who'd fallen onto his bottom. He lifted his arms and tear-streaked face to his father, wide open mouth revealing a quivering tongue and two teeth.

"Still getting used to those legs, aren't you?" said Obi-Wan, scooping him up to cradle him against his shoulder. He patted the diapered bottom and went on, "The good news is, you've got so much padding down here, it's your dignity that's wounded more than anything." Ben howled into his ear, and Obi-Wan kissed the feathery dark hair. "At your birthday party, I know, young one. Most unfair."

It wasn't only Ben's celebration, but a shared one for all three children. A year ago, when Obi-Wan had been delayed off-world, Sabé's labor had begun during Luke and Leia's first birthday party. If not for Antoc coming to his rescue, he would've missed Ben's birth early the following morning. Eager to keep up with his big brother and sister from the start, they joked. That ambition certainly seemed to be the cause for the present tears.

Abruptly, Ben stopped crying and went still with what Obi-Wan knew to be captivated attention. He turned to see that Leia had wandered off from the group and found an empty crate sticking out from beneath the end of the refreshment table. She pushed at it, but it barely budged. With a grunt, she gave it another shove. ,This time, it moved a little further forward. Then, she clambered up on top of it, pausing for a moment to beam at Obi-Wan, proud of her accomplishment, before stretching her arms up toward the floating balls.

"Now aren't you clever?" he said, approaching. "A little problem solver."

But Leia’s problem wasn’t solved. She’d got herself up higher, but was still too far away to reach the balls she so desperately wanted. Her lips and forehead scrunched up in the expression that had made him and Sabé dub her “the angry one” when she was only a few weeks old. While her twin would've begun to cry if he were in her position, she growled--he didn’t need the Force to foresee a future of grinding-related dental problems. Both of them were stompers, though, and Leia did so now. She would've stomped right off the crate, if Obi-Wan hadn't shifted Ben to one arm to sweep her up with the other.

"You've got your hands full with that one," said Sakhet.

"Indeed," Obi-Wan agreed, struggling not to drop Leia after all, as she wriggled and kicked in displeasure to have been deprived of her independence. "Luckily, I have the Force, too."

" _Kriff_ ," muttered Antoc. "Thought for sure that would do it…"

Obi-Wan restrained a smug smile--but when he bent to set Leia on her feet and spied an abandoned ball by the corner of a barrack, he couldn't resist sending it upward to join the orbit.

"Oh look," he said, "a newly discovered planetoid on the edge of the system."

"Show-off," Antoc said.  

As Obi-Wan stood, he looked up just in time to see the lights of incoming shuttles through a cloud. His grin stretched. There was source of _his_ simple, pure joy. The Force effervesced with it, like the cork popped from a bottle of Daruvvian champagne. Ben’s laughter bubbled out, Leia and Luke tracked the invisible fountain with their bright eyes.

"Mama! Mama!" they cried in duet.

"Ma!" Ben echoed.

“Yes, Mama is home. We’ve missed her very much, haven’t we?”

“Going to go form a welcoming party in the hangar?” called Antoc. "I'm sure we can scrounge up some hoverballs…Kids'll never know the difference."

Obi-Wan returned his comrade's smirk with a placid smile. "Commander Al'Lur wouldn’t want me to abandon my post here at the party--or for you to win your bet against me.”

The lines of Antoc's face pulled into a gratifying scowl, but after a moment he laughed along with everyone else. Obi-Wan suspected it had something to do with the way Lieutenant Duwal caressed Antoc with her gaze as she came to stand beside him. It was feeling which Obi-Wan experienced a few minutes later as Sabé's slender figure strode across the field toward him in her orange flight suit.

In his arms, Ben kicked and lunged, as the twins toddled past, squealing, "Mama! I two! Me too, Mama!" Obi-Wan set Ben on the ground, following at a leisurely pace despite an urge to run to his wife with the same glee as their children, for he adored the sight of her dropping into a crouch to catch them in her arms and accept their slobbery kisses on her flushed cheeks.

"Happy birthday, my loves."

"I two!" Ben echoed as he finally reached his mother, though he held up one short index finger as Obi-Wan had instructed him.

"What a big boy you are!" As Sabé enfolded him into the group hug, she let herself fall backward in the grass with the breathlessly giggling trio atop her.

When Obi-Wan could no longer bear not to have her arms around him, her lips on his, he pulled the children off her, turned them back toward the party scene, and waved his hand to send a couple of sphere-fruits from the refreshment table to join the others in his star system. "Come on, Benji!" Luke said, grabbing his little brother by the hand. As they scampered off, Sabé had gotten to her feet and was brushing bits of grass off her flight suit.

"Welcome back, Commander," Obi-Wan said.

Sabé instantly went to attention and gave a crisp salute. "General."

He outranked her only technically, his status reflecting his past military service and not his present role in the Rebel army, but he nevertheless chuckled and told her, "At ease."

Sabé's hands, of course, did not clasp together behind her back, but instead locked at the nape of his neck as she pulled him in to her. She kissed him deeply, and Obi-Wan sank into it, allowed the joy of holding his wife and being held by her again well up and wash over him like an ocean wave.

"Told you I'd be home in time for the party," Sabé said when she drew back--much too soon, in Obi-Wan's opinion, though he loved the sight of her dimples flashing in her cheeks as her bright smile stretched.

Grinning back at her, he said, "I never doubted you for a moment." Silently, he thanked the Force, the goddess of safety, their lucky stars.

Her forehead buckled as she glanced down at her flight suit. "I had hoped with time to spare so I could change into something more special for our son's first birthday."

With the exception of their wedding day, such moments of concern over her clothing were rare for Sabé. Between caring for newborn infants and joining the Rebellion, there simply wasn't time for vanity, even if she had been inclined toward it.

He placed his hands on her shoulders, and she raised her gaze to him again as he said, "You, my love, are _resplendent_."

Obi-Wan tilted his head for another kiss, when he noticed a blade of grass sticking out from one of her buns--which were, admittedly, a little disheveled from her helmet. Carefully, so as not to muss her hair further, he plucked it out. Sabé's nose crinkled beneath her furrowed brow, but then her dimples winked out again as the Force ripples from their laughter radiated, accompanying them back toward the party.

"You seem to have the entertainment well in hand," she remarked.  

"I told you I’d be a hit at the kids’ birthday parties."

A tug at his hand made Obi-Wan stop walking and face her. One was her brows hitched flirtatiously, and her voice dropped to a low, private pitch.

"Especially with me." The pad of her thumb scuffed over his wrist, quickening his pulse beneath it; his heart hammered against the palm of her other hand which she rested against his chest. "I haven’t seen any of your tricks in a week, and you know what it does to me."

Her fingers clutched the front of his tunic, dragging him against her for another kiss. While Sabé certainly was never _shy_ about her affection, this level of demonstrativeness surprised him. Not that he was complaining. He kissed her back with equal unconcern about the onlookers, but just as he swept his tongue against hers she abruptly pulled her lips from his. He just heard a series of soft _plops_ rain down on the soft ground before the kids shrieked, "Ball! Ball!"

"Oh dear," said Obi-Wan, knowing what he would see before he turned around--which he nevertheless he did. "It would appear I’ve dropped the ball.”

"Pay up." Lieutenant Duwal held out her open in palm to Antoc, whose curse was lost beneath Sekhat's chortling. He gave Obi-Wan a dead-eyed stare across the yard as he delved into the pocket of his fatigues for a handful of credits.

Obi-Wan looked quickly away, glad for the distraction of Ben running back to his mother. But as Sabé scooped him up, she gave a crisp nod over his head to her fellow Royal Handmaiden-turned-Rebel, conspiracy glowing in the two pairs of dark eyes.

"Moteé and I are splitting the winnings," she said.

"Congratulations," said Obi-Wan. He waved his hand to send the fallen star system back into orbit. "But double or nothing you won't distract me again."

"My money's on Commander Al'Lur!" called Antoc.

Sabé's laughter, and the sound of his own chuckle mingling with it, sang in Obi-Wan's ears, swelling the the Force, a tide deeper and more boundless than the sea.  

 

 


End file.
